Pause and Reflect

People always say that your thirties are your best years. I never fully understood this; when you're in the midst of the fun, care-free partying of your twenties, it's hard to see how anything can get better. Surely it all goes downhill at 30 when you're married with kids and living the boring, suburban life? Now, at 32, I am starting to see what people mean. I truly feel like I'm finally waking up to myself and enjoying the journey that it's taking me on. It happens gradually; as you edge towards the big 3-0, you start to feel a shift, a greater understanding of what makes you tick and how to deal with your personal demons, a clarity around the type of people that you want to be around, and this realisation that actually not everything is black and white, like you always thought. The world is made up of grey. Lots of it. When I was younger, I thought life was simple. You study, you work hard, you make your success. If you did something wrong, it said something abo...

The sound of Ed Sheeran gently wakes me up to a cold, dark morning. It's 6am. I roll over and reach for my phone. A quick check of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp and I feel up to date on my friends' lives. I open a few articles on my news feed about another Syrian atrocity to which the world is becoming alarmingly accustomed. My heart aches. As I glance at my clock and realise 15 minutes have passed, I sigh to myself and finally pull myself out of bed for another day at work. This has become my routine every morning. I have a wonderful life and I should be grateful for the trajectory that my career is on and the opportunities that brings. However, like other millenials, this often doesn't feel like enough. My grand visions of building schools in India seem so far away. Whilst I'm helping the feminist agenda, breaking glass ceilings in the corporate world, and trying to be a role model for young women, part of me yearns for more. Some days that is the desire to do som...